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Greg Mason
Pre-defined detailed information Dr. Greg Mason is the author of The Doctrine of Totalitarian Transhumanism and the Combine's Chief Philosopher and biological scientist. Summary After Dr. Wallace Breen made peace with the Combine and met with the advisors to discuss how to deliver Earth to the Combine and the future of humankind, he could only be reminded of Dr. Greg Mason. Something in the intelligent but completely cold, inhuman, and orderly way The Combine conducted itself and viewed reality kept bringing memories of the man back to his mind. The Combine needed more human collaborators, and although the task of transforming man was something they had done with other species before, they could use some human help in how to go about making this transformation. Breen reached out to Dr. Mason, and the doctor willingly meted with Breen and advisors. Breen saw Dr. Greg Mason as a perfectly fit tool for the Combine plan. The advisors found him much more relatable then Dr. Breen, however unfit to be the main human face or representative of the Combine. Two advisors worked with Dr. Mason behind the scene to devise Earth’s program of biological and geological transformation and to devise an ideology with which to indoctrinate the Universal Union’s newly acquired species. In completing this task, “The Doctrine of Totalitarian Transhumanism” was developed. Dr. Wallace Breen was more then happy to let Dr. Mason and whoever he employed to handle the nitty-gritty technical work. He gave mason orders sometimes, gave him research projects to complete at the helm of other advisors. He became a sort of right hand to Breen and the advisors. It was as if Dr. Mason had found a new a father figure in the cold embrace of Breen and the advisors. Through them, he could finally express his complete indignant disgust for humankind. Early Life Dr. Greg Atol Mason was born at 12:01 am on December 1st, 1959 to Dr. Atticus Mason and Dr. Alisha Mason. The family lived in Massachusetts, in a manor built several generations earlier in 1780 when the family business was still masonry. The manor was located on the edge of Blue Hills Reservation, a state park, and separated from the rest of the rural community. Dr. AtticusMason was a respected professor of biophysics at MIT and Dr. Alisha Mason was a noted engineering professor. Alisha Mason unfortunately developed breast cancer when Greg was only a year old, dying shortly after. This left Greg, a quiet and sometimes stoic infant, alone with his father. Greg Mason’s father and the assistants he employed raised him. The young Greg Mason was rarely ever allowed to play with toys, and when he did, he was instructed to analyze them in a mechanical manner. He was rarely allowed to interact with other children as child. Dr. Atticus Mason had big plans for his son, and saw to it that the boy’s upbringing was nothing short of a Spartan mental and physical training regimen. The precocious child was woken up every morning at 5:00 am and made to run around the manor grounds no matter the weather the conditions. He spent most of the rest of the day studying a complete gamut of subjects under the auspices of private tutors. The tutors were instructed to electrically shock Greg or restrain him if he became un-attentive. Some of the more harsh conditions that Mason had to endure were being locked in dark closet for hours at a time and being made to stand outside during the cold Massachusetts winters in only under-ware in order to improve his immune system. Whenever Greg protested the rigid and brutal way in which he was being raised, which was rarely, his father would simply say that this is the manner in which all Masons have been raised. Greg came to accept this idea, that this is simply how things should be, and that this process would make him much stronger than other people in the long run. Greg after all did feel privileged in his large home where his mind was constantly stimulated and he was made to improve himself in every way possible at the sacrifice of almost all leisure time. His nature as a descendent of the Masons made this type of upbringing fit him like a glove. Greg was given a little more leisure time as he became older. In this time Greg Mason read or explored the forest behind his house. Greg became fascinated by nature and genetics. He began collecting creatures and dissecting them, producing ornate drawings of their anatomy. One of his major hobbies became bird breeding, where he artificially select birds for certain traits. On his twelfth birthday, Greg asked for a pet cat, which he was given. His father was later horrified to find that the boy had mercilessly dissected it and preserved its parts in formaldehyde. Atticus beat the boy in a fit of rage. Afterwards, Greg would treat life with more respect, or at least the life-forms he didn’t find in the back of the forest. Greg also began to develop an interest in authoritarian political movements. He read about Italian Fascism,Nazism, Stalinist Russia, and Maoist China. Sometimes he envisioned himself at a great dictator who would reform humankind and solve all the world’s problems with cold calculations. However, his father admonished the boy for his eccentric political interests and forced him to focus more on scientific pursuits. At the age of 14, Greg’s years of isolation from his peers finally came to an end. He was sent to a boarding school for gifted pupils. His IQ was tested at 172, and the boy was allowed to take college level courses. However, despite his intelligence, he had an extreme problem relating to anyone else in the school. He viewed most of the social behavior and activity of his peers as superfluous, stupid, or revolting. He often lectured his peers or tried to devise ways to “punish them” for what he viewed as “unruly behavior”. He felt that beyond the walls of his childhood home he was merely some strange intelligent alien to the rest of humankind. He began to act out in school, often having fits of rage. A psychologist who evaluated him noted that the boy seemed to show a limited range of emotions, did not understand any concept of “leisure” or “pleasure”, was compulsive to the point of being robotic, and had no discernible interest in sex or sexuality. That was another thing Greg felt alienated by, he rarely if ever felt sexually attracted to anyone and detested all outward displays of affections or “love”. He had masturbated before, but for him this was merely an annoying physiological task. The idea of touching another person in that way was completely unacceptable to him. Still, his father put pressure on the boy to marry and he eventually would, continuing his genetic lineage with two children. At the age of 16, the young Greg Mason went to Harvard to study Biology. There he became fascinated with the idea of changing human biology. Greg started to try to develop a mask of normalcy. He could understand human social interaction intellectually although emotionally he felt disconnected from most of it. In his senior year at Harvard Greg became enamored by a guest lecturer, a physicist by the name of Dr. Wallace Breen. Dr. Breen delivered a lecture on the topic of transhumanism. Greg was impressed by how simultaneously intelligent and charming Dr. Wallace Breen could be and the fact that he was only a few years old than him. Greg approached Breen after the lecture was over and engaged him in a lively conversation on biology, human modification, and the future of humankind. Dr. Breen was both extremely impressed and disturbed by this robotic and singularly focused person. Dr. Wallace Breen was much more socially normal, and would party as much as he would study. However, something about Greg’s robotic nature intimidated and even inspired Breen. He recognized, that despite the fact that he was just as intelligent if not more intelligent then Greg, he could never obtain his level of self-control and discipline. Over the years, they would occasionally send letters to each other discussing their research and advancement in the world of science. Greg Mason would receive a p. H.D. in molecular biology from Stanford, and go on to teach there, becoming a noted if not obscure researcher in that field. Mason would keep much of his work secret and unpublished. Dr. Breen once sent an invitation to him to work at Black Mesa and to even establish his own lab there if he proved productive enough, but Dr. Mason refused this offer. Dr. Mason seemed to be becoming more and more withdrawn, and more and more hateful towards everyone and everything human as the years progressed. Category:Characters